Saturday, December 8, 2012

Homeschool Check In

I thought I'd check in with how our first official homeschool year is going. 
 
So far, it is exceeding my expectations.

I am actually doing it, for one.  There was a part of me that thought I might not be diligent enough to make it happen day in and day out.   The girls wouldn't let me, even if I wanted to.  I love the routine of it, and we do it most days.  We average three to four days each week, which was my goal.  However I also love that if our week has been crazy and the girls don't seem up to it, we have the flexibility not to do it. 
 
  Another benefit: The girls and I are closer than ever.  They are growing in areas where they had weaknesses.  Madison especially has grown so much in terms of her confidence and her ability to recover from difficult situations/frustration/failure/insecurity,etc.  If we made strides in only this one area it all would have been worth it. 
 
Academically it is going really well.  I feel like I set us up for success by keeping our schedule super light.   I have also been blessed with awesome kids that beg to do school, even on Saturday.  Madison finished in just three months both the math and spelling curriculum I had planned on using all year.   I light of this, I have decided to add in a few subject for the second half of the year. 
 
In addition to Copywork, Math U See and All about Spelling,  we will be doing Story of the World (History), Roadtrip USA (Geography and History), and various lapbooks including Little House in the Big Woods, Money, etc.  I also plan on teaching Kenzie to read in January.  I am not sure if she is ready but we  will give it a shot.  If she picks it up great, if not, we will try again in a few months.
 
The challenges of homeschooling so far:
 have been the vast amount of homeschool curriculum and information out there.  I am a researcher, and have found myself second guessing my homeschool curriculum choices and philosophy.  It shouldn't be a scary thing to take your child's education into your own hands, it should be normal, but for some reason, it is scary.   So, the self-doubt is a challenge.  Another challenge is the lack of a break from the kiddoz.  They are always around, and while I think that the benefits of this will be HUGE in the long run, sometimes it can be a bit taxing.  I long for 3 to 4 hours to myself to run errands, grab coffee, plan homeschooling, etc!  It's not that I don't get out, because I do, my trouble comes when I start comparing myself to all of the moms that have their children in school and get a beak from at least one or two of their kids for a few hours each day.  Sometimes I get a little envious of that part of it.  But I don't wish that our roles were reversed. 
 
All in all, I am very pleased with our first few months of homeschooling and thankful for the opportunity to do it.  I am super excited about what the rest of the year has in store.

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